They’re back: First team of DTE employees return from Puerto Rico

After a month long trip to Puerto Rico to restore power after Hurricane Maria devastated the island, 80 DTE Energy employees have returned back home to Michigan.

The group – which includes employees from distribution operations, engineering, fleet, safety, supply chain and other departments – landed at Oakland County International Airport Friday evening where family and friends awaited their arrival.

“I’m just happy to have him back home,” said Kim Hazel, wife of Jeff Hazel, a lineman from DTE’s Maryville service center.

Crews were just as happy to be back home with their own families, after helping families thousands of miles away.

“It was great. Getting the lights back on for folks who had been without power for months – it was an amazing feeling,” said Charlie Crosby, a corporate safety supervisor for DTE. “But there’s nothing like being home.”

While in Puerto Rico, DTE crews installed hundreds of new utility poles, reset hundreds more, and replaced miles of power lines that had been damaged by the storm.

A second team of DTE employees arrived in Puerto Rico Friday afternoon to continue restoration efforts.